The Post 9/11 Tech Boom 423
"The battlefield will not be physical so much as it will be digital," Rob Owens, a tech industry analyst at Pacific Crest Securities in Portland, Ore., told the San Francisco Chronicle recently. "There will definitely be people who prosper in this new environment."
Owens and other analysts point to these factors:
- A need for more secure technologies for Net traffic, business communications, computer networks, travel and building architecture, along with the predictably more sophisticated components for new weaponry.
- A huge increase in "homeland security" spending not only by governments, but among biotech firms as the country expects and prepares for attacks potentially more lethal than those on New York and Washington.
- A boon for telecom and video conferencing companies and systems. Not only will many corporations choose to do business without sending executives on the road, but such systems are seen as increasingly vital communications backups in the event of widespread attacks on an existing communications infrastructure. By the same token, it would make sense that in stressful times people will spend more time shopping, talking, amusing themselves and doing business on the Net, as they did in the days after 9/11.
- Continuing increases in sales across the tech spectrum as individuals, businesses and governments make sure their hardware and software systems can deal with the challenges and problems of a post 9/11 world.
The media are feeding these trends. Not only are the images of 9/11 horrific and continual, but the war in Afghanistan has -- correctly or not -- enhanced the idea that technologies are our only feasible response to the profoundly changed geopolitical reality that Osama Bin-Laden created last fall. The fact that we have undermined a terrorist network and overturned a repressive government in weeks, with only a handful of American casualties, has transformed the way even Americans think of technology. This isn't a time for a tech slump, but another boom, perhaps of even greater proportions than the last one.
Backups (Score:2, Informative)
Hopefully, this will also lead to the decentralization of business. There's a danger of increased "sprawl", but the dispersal of urban centers means less large critical targets, a good thing in my view.
The best example of REAL tech boom - SGI (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Other businesses aided: (Score:0, Informative)
Funny you should mention this. There was a story on NPR shorty after 9/11 talking about the fucking proliferation in flag display. Stores the US over were sold out.
So they turn to China. Apparently, China makes about 9.25 shitload of US flags and ships them over here. The Chinese even quit production of their OWN flag to make US flags, because there's higher margin on US flags.
Pretty fucking patriotic, eh?
The irony is that the US refined capitalism, but the Chinese proved to be better at it when it comes to making flags.
Re:Hard facts please (Score:0, Informative)
Re:I tend to disagree on one point.. (Score:5, Informative)
Earth to Mr. Owens (Score:3, Informative)
Ahem... If you are referring to the anthrax attacks, then yes, New York and Washington belong in the sentance, especially when speaking of biotech. However, the anthrax attacks were not all that lethal, with just a handful of casualties. Besides, you left out Florida, another forgotten land in the attack discussions.
If, however, you are referring to the incredibly lethal aircraft attacks, those occurred in New York, NY and ARLINGTON VIRGINIA!!! Yes, folks, the Pentagon is in Arlington Virginia.
The DC 2600 meetings are in Arlington, VA also (right across the highway from the Pentagon), but we do that just to trick "the man"
Re:undermined? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:I tend to disagree on one point.. (Score:4, Informative)
See, Unocal has been planning an oil pipeline through Afganistan for some time now. One of the breadbasket republics (I think Turkmenistan) has huge, unexploited oil supplies that Mr. Bush feels are in dire jeopardy of not being exploited to their fullest. The problem with an oil pipeline is that it makes a wonderful terrorist target since it is so hard to guard.
So...there's really no danger of the U.S. abandoning Afganistan the way they have so many other countries so long as there is a financial interest in keeping the country stable.
No Jon, i'm still eating RAMEN NOODLES (Score:5, Informative)
Times are still bad here in SV. I was laid off last January a week after buying my house. I've learned to eat less to make house payments, i've lost 60lbs this last year alone.
I survive by making flyers, perhaps another SV resident has seen them.. "Cheap PC repair 1/2 the price of Fry's" Fry's charges $70 bucks to install ram, I just charge $35. I get about 2-3 calls a week for work. I make about 400 there, then I also do part time web work for a company which is another $200@month. Finally I do data entry into a MySQL database for the same customer which pays a flat rate of a dollar a record. I do about 200 records a week.
I never really get to sleep anymore.. I find myself putting in over 16 hours a day into these various venues for money. The money isn't stable or reliable, and the difference for the mortgage has to be made up by begging the family for money. It has taken it's toll on my health both mental and physical. Go ahead, look at my user info, there are some posts I made while starving, I re-read them and realized jeesh hard times can make you lose your mind.
I'm going to finish this up by saying you should really check with us geeks out here before you go off saying "oh there is a new boom in SV" There just isn't. Out of 9 sysadmin friends there is only 1 left employed post layoffs. His company is an IT outsourcing company and he's worried about his job. A lot of us full timers were replaced by these "hired guns" now these guys are getting scared too. Sorta paints a ugly picture doesn't it?
--toqer